The Religious Society of Friends, earlier known as "Children of Light" and "Publishers of the Truth," later in derision called "Quakers," has as its background the revival of mysticism and the various mystical sects which arose in England and on the Continent during the seventeenth century. It was founded by George Fox who was born in Leicestershire, England, in 1624. The first Friends to arrive in America were Mary Fisher and Ann Austin from England to Boston in 1656, and Elizabeth Harris to Maryland. George Fox himself visited North America and established the Baltimore Yearly Meeting at West River, Maryland, in 1672. The earliest arrival of the group in Pennsylvania dates back about twenty years before the coming of William Penn. The first Assembly of Pennsylvania met on December 4, 1682. A few Friends prior to this had crossed the Delaware, built homes and established the Fall's Meeting in what later became Bucks County, Pennsylvania. This became an official monthly Meeting in 1683. By 1780, it is estimated that there were 75,000 Quakers in the American colonies scattered from Maine to the Carolinas.

In the United States the various Quaker Meetings were split by a doctrinal dispute in 1827-1828, with some following Elias Hicks (Hicksite Friends) and some remaining as "Orthodox" Friends. Two subsequent divisions in the Society produced two additional groupings: those influenced by British Quaker Joseph John Gurney (Guerneyites) and John Wilbur (Wilburites). By 1887 there was a Friends Meeting in existence in Genoa, Nebraska. The first Friends Meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska was formed in 1888. Friends who came to Nebraska after 1869 because they were appointed as Indian Agents by President Grant were mostly Hicksite Friends and they were assigned the "Northern Territory" [i.e. Nebraska] under the terms of the appointment. The 1888 Meeting in Lincoln would have been a Hicksite Meeting, under the care of Illinois Yearly Meeting as parent body. The active membership grew smaller as families scattered to other states and the records of that group closed in 1912. However, there have always been Friends in Lincoln with affiliations elsewhere. Miss Olivia Pound, who belonged to the Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, Monthly Meeting, helped sustain the Lincoln Friends.

Most local Friends Meetings established after ca. 1900 in Nebraska related to the Five Years Meeting (later known as Friends United Meeting) in Richmond, Indiana, due to the missionary work of Herbert J. Mott. It was this group that founded Nebraska Central College at Central City, Nebraska. In the fall of 1946, Dr. and Mrs. Palmer and family came to Lincoln. Through his efforts and with the help of Miss Pound, regular meetings for worship were held each Sunday and reached the size that justified organization. A monthly Meeting was organized April 25, 1948, with the support of the American Friends Service Committee. This Meeting in Lincoln later affiliated with Iowa (Conservative) Yearly Meeting, a Wilburite group. Members from the other Societies throughout the state were invited to attend and vice versa. However, in Nebraska a further split took place in [1956-1958], when several local Meetings withdrew from the Nebraska Yearly Meeting to form the Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting, largely centered in Colorado.

The Friends Society is a religious organization and is aimed toward the improvement and perfection of the self. Business Meetings operate on consensus and votes are not taken. The local Monthly Meeting has full administrative authority and is the executive unit. The Yearly Meeting is the authority in matters of doctrine.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The records of the Religious Society of Friends are grouped in four Series: 1) Nebraska Central College; 2) Nebraska Yearly Meeting (includes records of various Monthly Meetings in Nebraska, and two Meetings in Colorado); 3) The Crosbie Papers On Nebraska Yearly Meeting and Nebraska Central College; and 4) Hicksite Quaker Research Materials. Series 2, Nebraska Yearly Meeting, includes one Subseries: Lincoln Nebraska Monthly Meeting, 1948-ca. 1975 (mostly filmed, with one unfilmed pamphlet).

The bulk of the physical documents were received May 9, 1950 from the Librarian at the Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. The Friends Historical Association is located at Haverford College, Pennsylvania. A copy of the Crosbie Papers on the Nebraska Yearly Meeting has been added courtesy of the Lilly Library, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. Other copies of Hicksite Quaker research materials were made from originals in the Library of Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion, Richmond Indiana, with the assistance of individual scholars doing research on the Hicksite Quakers.